Soul Food

The history of American soul food can be traced all the way back to the days of slavery. More often times than not, the slaves were given the most undesirable part of the meal, the leftovers from the house. Pairing this with their own home-grown vegetables, the first soul food dishes were invented. After the slaves were freed, most of them were so poor that they could only afford the most undesirable, inexpensive cuts of meat available to them. (The leftover, unwanted parts of a pig such as tripe, tongue, ears, and knuckles). As in the days of slavery, African-Americans used their own home-grown vegetables and things they could catch or kill to complete their meals.

In the modern United States, soul food has truly evolved. It has become part of the African-American culture, bringing family members together on all occasions from birthdays to funerals, to spend time together preparing meals. The history of soul food is mainly an oral one; recipes were never really written down so while two families may be preparing identical meals, chances are that they don't taste very much alike. Different ingredients, cooking methods, and techniques go into preparing soul food meals, causing the end results to come out differently.

One of the most obvious and widely-recognized characteristics of African-American soul food is the fact that hot sauce and more intense spices are incorporated into meals as often as possible. For this reason, soul food is not for those who can't take the heat or are prone to heart burn!

Another characteristic of true African-American soul food is that nothing is ever wasted. Having originated from the leftovers of just about anything. Stale bread was quickly converted into stuffing or a bread pudding. Over ripe bananas were whipped up into banana puddings, and other ripe fruits were put into cakes and pies, and leftover fish parts were made into croquets or hush puppies.

Sunday dinners are definitely the times when soul food is most commonly seen on tables. Sunday dinners are a time for African-American families to get together to prepare and partake in a large meal. Sunday dinners normally take up the entire day (normally following a church ceremony), and family members come from far and wide to partake in this meal together. Sunday dinners took place in the form of potlucks, also, where various family members contribute a dish or two and form a big, fine meal. Collard and mustard greens, kale, ribs, corn bread, fried chicken, chitlins, okra, and yams are all excellent examples of African-American soul food that might be found at a Sunday meal.

Soul food is not generally a healthy option for a person that must monitor their diet. Fried foods are generally prepared with hydrogenated oil or lard, and they usually tend to be flavored and seasoned with pork products. Since this may be what contributes to such a high percentage of African-Americans that are significantly overweight, soul food preparation methods are now slowly starting to be refined, bringing a lot more healthy options to the table. Rather than the increasingly unhealthy pork products, use of turkey-based products is becoming more and more popular as time passes. The fried foods that are so beloved of the culture can now be prepared using a lower fat canola or vegetable oil.

About the author:
Troy Pentico
Visit The Tasty Chef for more great tips, techniques, and insights pertaining to cooking and recipes. http://www.tastychef.net
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Making Cake Or Cobbler In Your Microwave

Just because it is summer doesn’t mean you don’t want to be able to make nice desserts for your family. The problem is: who wants to turn on their oven to bake a cake or make a cherry cobbler? Here are some recipes I have made often in my microwave. I tested them on my family and they were very satisfied.

Blueberry or Cherry Cobbler

Ingredients

2 (21 oz) can blueberry or cherry pie filling
1 tsp. grated orange peel
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbls marg. softened
2 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 cups Bisquick Mix
Vanilla ice cream

Combine filling, orange peel, and nutmeg in deep rectangle shaped microwave container. (I use Tupperware's Large Deep Rock N Serve container) Microwave uncovered at 70% power for 8 minutes or until hot, stirring twice.

Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and beat vigorously 20 strokes. Drop 12 dumplings onto the hot filling. Microwave uncovered at 70% power for 10 to 14 minutes or until dumplings are no longer doughy.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Super Easy Cake

Ingredients

One box of cake mix, any flavor. I like to use the super moist ones. They seem to come out better in the microwave.

One can of diet soda, any flavor. You can use regular soda as well.

Mix the cake mix and soda together well in a large bowl.

Spray a microwavable container with Pam. Now, be careful the kind of bowl you use. First, it must be microwave safe. I don't recommend glass containers. My mom tried to make this cake in a corningware container and it came out as hard as a rock. I use a Tupperware Heat N Serve container. This container comes in four sizes, but the 6 1/4 cup one works the best.

Pour the cake batter into the container and place the seal on it. Put it in the microwave for ten minutes. Let it set in the microwave a couple minutes and then remove the container from the microwave.

Remove the cover. Place a plate over the container and flip the container up-side-down. The cake will slide right out. Once it cools you can frost it if you would like. My husband likes to eat it as it is with some vanilla ice cream. Yummy.

My favorite mixture is chocolate cake mix and diet cherry soda.


About the Author:
Donna Rivera-Loudon has an MBA in Information Technology and is currently a Tupperware Director and CEO of her own company. Visit her website for more recipes for the microwave.
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Sweet And Sour Chicken Wings

The sweet and sour chicken you've seen in your Chinese restaurant.

This recipe is pretty much the standard sweet and sour one that you would usually receive in a Chinese food restaurant anywhere in the country. Please note that it is very sweet, which could be in your favour if you have children because they just love it! The recipe takes a day to marinade, so plan ahead! Do not start side dishes or rice before you begin cooking the sweet and sour, or you'll be eating a day late! Once you have made the marinade, though, cooking the wings takes no effort. Just stick them in the oven to bake. That pretty much covers the basis for this recipe, it's nothing hard to cook but it does take some time.

Acidic fruits (like Kiwi or Pineapple just a few to name) tend to go very well with the sweet and sour chicken. Mild soups served before the main dish will be nice as well, because they will contrast the sharp flavour of the sweet and sour. As with almost any Asian dishes, having a bowl of rice at the table, either fried or steamed (whatever you prefer it doesn't matter in this case), would be a welcome addition.

Any white dessert wine goes with Sweet and Sour Chicken really wonderfully, but tart red wines will only ruin the flavour, so take that in mind. Stick with wine flavours that enhance the meal, not ones which detract from it! Juice and water work just as well, if not better, than wine. Remember that this is a kid-friendly recipe, so it is tailored specifically for kid drinks. Beer or other bitter beverages are right out! They would taste terrible!

Ingredients:

24 chicken wings
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup water
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger

Cooking Instructions:

1. Cut off the wing tips and cut each wing in half.
2. Place the wings in a raised edge pan.
3. In a large bowel, mix the water, soy sauce, oil, and pineapple juice. Stir well.
4. Mix the ginger, the garlic powder, and the sugar into the water/oil mix.
5. Beat the liquid mixture until it has been well integrated (2-4 minutes)
6. Immediately pour all of the sauce mix over the wings.
7. Cover the pan and refrigerate the meal overnight.
8. Remove the pan from the refrigerator, and uncover the wings.
9. Bake everything in your oven at 350°F for 50-60 minutes.

About the Author:
John
AceCooking AceRecipes SimpleCooking SpecialRecipes AllCooking
Submitted on 2006-11-05
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How To Remove Lobster From The Shell

Lobster is an an all-time favourite seafood with most people, and many dishes using lobsters require that the flesh be removed from the shell. Here are some handy tips when you prepare a lobster dish at home.

A preliminary way to prepare a lobster, which should be alive, is to grasp it firmly by the back, plunge it quickly, head first, into a kettle of rapidly boiling water, and then submerge the rest of the body. Be sure to have a sufficient amount of water to cover the lobster completely. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes; then lower the flame or remove to a cooler part of the stove and cook slowly for 1/2 hour. Remove from the water and allow to cool.

After being prepared in this way, a lobster may be served cold or it maybe used in the preparation of various made dishes. If it is to be used without further preparation, it is often served from the shell, which is usually split open. Mayonnaise or some other sauce is generally served with lobster. The flesh is removed from the shell with a small fork as it is eaten.

To remove lobster from the shell, first pull off the two large claws and the four pairs of small claws, and break the tail from the body. Then using scissors, cut a single slit the entire length of the shell covering the under part of the tail and remove the flesh inside the tail in a whole, large piece. The intestinal tract, which can be readily observed, will be found embedded in this piece and running the entire length. Slash the flesh and remove it. Next remove the flesh of the body from the shell, retaining only that part which appears to be fibrous, like the flesh of the tail. The stomach, should not be removed from the shell. However, care should be taken to obtain all the flesh surrounding the bones in the bony part of the lobster. The coral substance, that is, the roe of the lobster, should also be removed, as it can be used for a garnish.

With the flesh removed from the shell, proceed to take out the flesh in the claws. Break open the large claws, using a nut cracker or a small hammer for this purpose, and remove the flesh that they contain. If the small claws are to be used for a garnish, as is often done, remove the flesh without breaking them; otherwise break them as in the case of the large ones.

About the Author:
Noraini Maskuri enjoys cooking , likes to experiement and has professional training in bakery. She is the owner of MyCookery.com and has a blog at mycookery.com/blog. Do drop by to check out more recipes and tips.
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